Scrapophony

Stone River Soundscape

I sometimes define ‘Scrapophony’ as ‘the art of making music with found objects’. In a broader sense, it’s a state of mind…a curiosity about the sound of things and how different sounds blend together…or not. Or maybe it’s simply having fun with found sounds.

Humans have been experimenting with ways to make music with found objects (sticks, bones, rocks…) for about as long as there have been humans. I just happened to coin the phrase scrapophony sometime in the 1970s as a handle for the modern day equivalent of that spirit.

What Is a Scrapophone

A scrapophone is a ‘musical’ instrument made from found objects. It can be as simple as tapping two sicks together or as complex as you want to make it. My tendency seems to be to make ‘prototypes’ or simple examples that demonstrate possibilities.

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